INDUSTRY REPORT: Translation and Interpretation Services

This is part of a series reviewing industries that have experienced greater than 40% employment growth since 2007. Click here to see the summary.Data and analysis comes from Analyst and EMSI’s latest data release (2011.4). Contact Rob Sentz (rob@economicmodeling.com) with questions. You can also follow EMSI @DesktopEcon.

Since 2007, a time when most of the economy was taking a severe beating, translation and interpretation services have grown by about 50%. According to NAICS, this industry (541930) “comprises establishments primarily engaged in translating written material and interpreting speech from one language to another and establishments primarily engaged in providing sign language services.”

Here is an overview:

In the U.S. there are currently 3,000 establishments, or places of work, that provide translation services. From 2007 to 2011, the industry created over 7,000 new jobs and now has nearly 22,000 estimated jobs. Over 60% of the people employed in this sector are female and more than 50% are younger workers — between the ages of 25 and 44.

Below is a closer look at some of the top occupations in the translation industry.

One in five in the the workforce (over 4,000) are employed as interviewers.

Survey and market researchers make up another 12% of the industry.

Interpreters and translators compose over 5% of the industry.

Customer service also plays an important role in this industry. It is increasingly common to see customer service reps as key parts of industry staffing patterns.

Now, here is a look at where translation services are concentrated.

State Name

2007 Jobs

2011 Jobs

% Change

2011 Avg. Annual Wage

2007 National Location Quotient

Total

14606

21742

0.49

55170

California

2,849

4,330

52%

$62,342

1.69

New York

1,434

1,778

24%

$59,306

1.57

Texas

1,177

1,776

51%

$50,536

1.07

Virginia

538

1,312

144%

$104,008

1.32

Florida

621

1,084

75%

$43,778

0.73

Colorado

426

710

67%

$41,023

1.71

North Carolina

384

707

84%

$74,344

0.86

Maryland

656

676

3%

$57,521

2.36

Oregon

409

634

55%

$42,882

2.21

Ohio

337

628

86%

$49,014

0.59

Illinois

342

611

79%

$45,647

0.54

Arizona

310

598

93%

$40,559

1.09

Georgia

375

586

56%

$53,515

0.84

Washington

453

559

23%

$37,706

1.42

Massachusetts

490

542

11%

$74,783

1.42

Pennsylvania

343

517

51%

$45,395

0.56

Minnesota

352

489

39%

$38,746

1.21

Wisconsin

542

477

(12%)

$25,271

1.80

Utah

132

422

220%

$39,631

1.00

Michigan

327

359

10%

$48,349

0.73

New Jersey

183

290

58%

$50,820

0.43

Missouri

231

254

10%

$37,444

0.78

Tennessee

152

244

61%

$40,591

0.52

Louisiana

145

233

61%

$82,543

0.71

New Mexico

228

230

1%

$23,484

2.54

Indiana

144

222

54%

$36,088

0.46

Kansas

101

200

98%

$41,497

0.67

Connecticut

126

160

27%

$57,890

0.70

Nevada

55

132

140%

$70,876

0.40

District of Columbia

148

109

(26%)

$63,462

2.00

Nebraska

54

108

100%

$53,164

0.54

Kentucky

99

101

2%

$31,614

0.50

South Carolina

48

97

102%

$40,176

0.23

Maine

56

94

68%

$38,592

0.86

Idaho

42

86

105%

$61,974

0.58

Iowa

59

59

0%

$35,941

0.37

Arkansas

50

55

10%

$33,422

0.39

Hawaii

34

49

44%

$57,888

0.47

Alabama

28

48

71%

$44,808

0.13

New Hampshire

27

45

67%

$33,780

0.40

South Dakota

18

35

94%

$36,822

0.43

Rhode Island

25

33

32%

$39,396

0.48

Oklahoma

27

22

(19%)

$41,177

0.16

West Virginia

17

20

18%

$38,993

0.22

Mississippi

11

19

73%

$51,039

0.09

When it comes to translation services, California is the clear leader. There are currently 4,330 employed, and 1,500 jobs have been created since 2007, which amounts to 52% growth. In addition, California has a higher per capita concentration (1.69 LQ) of translation services as compared to the average state (1.00 LQ).

If we consider pure employment, New York, Texas, Virginia, and Florida are the next states on the list. Translation services employ over 1,000 in each state. Virginia grew by 144% since 2007 and has a very high industry earning figure (over $100,000 per year). This is likely related to its proximity to the nation’s capital.

With location quotients above 2.0, Maryland and Oregon have the highest concentration in translation services.

Utah has had the fastest percent growth (220% since 2007.

Conclusion

It is always refreshing to see an industry that is thriving, especially during hard times. For more on why this industry is growing, check out this 2009 article from Inc. Magazine.

Welcome to the world of translation services and localization — a multibillion-dollar global market, where companies help bridge the communication gap between clients, businesses and individuals. Many of the high-growth companies on our Inc. 500|5000 list have thrived in this niche area that offers a suite of services from document translation to website localization to multilingual court reporting to oral interpretation.

These companies help bridge the communication gap between clients and businesses worldwide. They understood early on that in a global economy, clear, concise, communication is everything.

I am the founder and owner of CORPORATE TRANSLATION SERVICES, a translation company based in Chile in 1987.
We specialize in the translation of English>Spanish and Spanish>English documents of all kinds to national and international corporate clients. We are particularly experienced in legal, business and economic/finance topics.
Our clients include public and private sector companies and entities, such as BHP Billiton (Minera Escondida), Codelco, Fluor Daniels, Faber Castell, BASF, Chile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Chilean-American Chamber of Commerce, the Secretariat of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Trade Commission (Paris), and the International Airline Transportation Association (IATA).
I would look forward to collaborate with you in your translation projects, as well as to explore the feasibility of joint business ventures in Chile and Latin & Central America.